Seng Samla Mawlai Pyllun (SSMP) president Samuel Biam on Monday said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the state government of Meghalaya and Dalmia cement on the utilisation of plastic waste generated from the Marten dumping ground.
The delegation of the SSMP along with officials of the Shillong municipal board (SMB) on Monday conducted an inspection at Marten dumping ground in Mawiong and had expressed satisfaction with the progress and development of the dumping ground.
“The Shillong municipal board has taken very positive steps to implement various development activities here at Marten and we can see that the segregation machine is functioning properly compared to the last year 2021,” said Biam.
Biam said that the signing of the MoU between SMB and Dalmia is another good step taken by SMB as a large chunk of plastic waste will be transferred to the Dalmia cement plant to use in their factory and this will help reduce the plastic waste of Marten.
He added that even though more can be done to reduce the wastes and plastic from Marten yet it is satisfying to see that the dumping ground is developing as the medical waste and compost plant are functioning at full scale.
“We remember during our last inspection, we cannot enter the surroundings as strong smell exhumes from the dumping ground but things have changed as all waste is being segregated with scientific methods” he added.
The president of SSMP Samuel Biam said that it is time for the state government to look for an alternative dumping ground as Marten has been utilised as a dumping ground since the British government era hence alternative dumping ground is needed to dump waste out of Shillong city.
“During our last meeting with the urban minister, the SSMP had suggested the Urban department find an alternative place to dump the waste which is segregated from Marten and the department has already identified land at Kyrdem Ri-bhoi district but it is sad that till date there is stiff opposition from the public and NGOs of the region,” said Biam.
“The people of Kyrdem misunderstood that the identified area will be converted into Marten but what they fail to understand is that the area identified at Kyrdem will be only used as landfills where only the waste which is segregated from Marten will be dumped at the identified area and this waste will not have a negative impact either on environment or health” he added.
